


When the Best is Gone

by White_Noise



Series: The Casualty of War Series [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Pepper's pov, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 21:27:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7454502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Noise/pseuds/White_Noise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It should have been a miserable day. If there was any fairness in the world, the sky should have been grey, rain pouring from the clouds like the world was crying. Thunder and lightning should have lit up the sky like Thor himself was screaming at the injustice. Instead it was a sunny day. Warm but with a cool breeze blowing, the sky a deep blue. </p><p>The sad fact was, the world doesn't stop moving just because one of its best is gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Best is Gone

It should have been a miserable day. If there was any fairness in the world, the sky should have been grey, rain pouring from the clouds like the world was crying. Thunder and lightning should have lit up the sky like Thor himself was screaming at the injustice. 

But Thor wasn’t here. He was back in Asgard and wasn’t even aware of the terrible tragedy that had taken place during his absence or else Pepper would have no doubt the sky would be alive with electricity. 

As it was, it was a sunny day. Warm but with a cool breeze blowing, the sky a deep blue. 

Tony Stark was dead. And as Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industry stood before his grave stone, she realised, the world doesn’t stop moving just because one of its best was gone. 

The weeks after the funeral had been the worse weeks Pepper had ever had to deal with. The company needed to keep afloat now that its namesake had been murdered and its share prices in turmoil. The Accords Tony had fought for, despite easily passing through the UN, still had to be fully implemented. The media hovering around Stark Tower and pestering the CEO, looking for comments from employees about their deceased employer, the nature of his death and the trial of his murderer.

And there was the scandal. 

It seemed that even from beyond the grave, Tony Stark was still protecting his loved ones. 

Only a week after the world saw the end of the genius, a file had been released online. 

Although there was no way to link it back to any one person, Pepper could see Tony’s handy work and FRIDAYs metaphorical fingerprints all over the file. Tony must have spent years working on the file, possibly ever since the Avengers first team up. 

The file on Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, proving his involvement in illegal human experimentation, his breaking of the Accords to unlawfully imprison the defecting Avengers without trial and his manipulation of the military and US government for his own purposes.

The file had caused an outrage. Even as officials in Washington tried to cover it up, to protect one of their own and cover up their knowledge of the events, the file was brought to the attention of the UN. 

King T’Challa, on behalf of the UN, had given a rousing speech on betrayal and Ross’s backstabbing. On how the Accords were not for anyone to choose to ignore and that as one of the original signatures on the documents, Ross had wilfully broken the Accords he had sworn to follow. After that, there had been no other choice. Ross needed to be punished. 

The public was outraged. People started digging further. 

And then, as Ross had been publically arrested, the real horror had been realised. 

Hickman, the mentally unstable courthouse shooter who had gunned down Tony, had been revealed as the drug addict and psychotic nephew of one of Ross’s best men. An email chain had been discovered on a secret, encoded server, between Ross and several of his lackeys, showing that Ross had been involved with the murderer, having the young man released from the psychiatric facility he had been detain in just days before the shooting, encouraging the man’s belief that Tony had been a Hydra agent sent to destroy the Avengers and even going so far as to financially bank Hickman’s defence in return for his involvement in the incident being hidden from public. 

In the end, Hickman may have been the gun that killed Iron Man, but it was Ross who was the murderer. 

Ross had been denied the military trial he had demanded, dishonourably discharged and his rank stripped from him just before his arrest. The US too was not allowed to lead the trial, officials in the UN distrustful of their American counterparts who had only months earlier, fallen over themselves to support Ross, and fearful that justice would not be done should Ross’s former colleagues be in charge of his punishment. 

The prosecution in the International Law Court where the case would be heard had been working hard to prepare for the trial, digging deep into the scandal and calling on witnesses from everywhere, Tony’s murder just one of the events which would need to be covered in the trial. Betty Ross, the man’s own daughter, had confirmed that she would be speaking against her father. 

Bruce Banner had also spoke up, providing a statement of his dealings with Ross and proof of Ross’s illegal experimentation and even agreeing to testify against Ross in court, providing that the any cross-examinations be very careful, should the Other Guy want to make an appearance.

Pepper had been surprised that Bruce had stepped up in this considering his history and his fear of the Other Guy taking over.

She had known of the deep friendship between Tony and Bruce, how Bruce was one of the few people apart from herself, Happy, Rhodey and Steve, to have full access to all Stark Tech. She had known of the lab in the Tower and in the Compound set up just for Bruce and the gym Tony had made to withstand the Other Guy, who had seemed to like Iron Man.

She had also known how hurt Tony had been when Bruce had disappeared after the incident in Sokovia. 

Tony had still put his all into protecting his friend, keeping track of Bruce even after he had ‘disappeared’ to ensure no one went after The Hulk, not even the other Avengers.

It seemed like Bruce had decided to return to the US and return the favour one last time for his ‘Science Bro’, facing down his own demons to see justice done for his friend.

Many others had also stepped up, several of Ross’s own men turning on him for immunity or protection from repercussion. The case looked to be almost air-tight. Ross would go down as one of the worst war criminals in history.

But there was one group that the prosecution needed to ensure that Ross would pay for what he had done. One group of people who owed more than they could even know to Tony Stark and yet still hid away, refusing to face the consequences of their action. 

The rogue former Avengers, still hiding in Wakanda even after the pardon Tony had died for had been successful, too scared to face what had happened.

Pepper didn’t know what she was going to do when she saw Steve Rogers again. Would she be able to hold it together, to stare him down? Or would she breakdown the moment she came face to face with the soldier, scream and cry and try to hurt Steve like he had hurt her. Like he had hurt Tony. 

She had always admired the man. Like most people in America, she had been raised on the stories of Captain America, the best soldier who could do no wrong and would always lead the best side to victory. 

Even when the man had returned from the dead, she hadn’t changed her good opinion of him, his actions in New York enough to keep her faith. 

Pepper now wished she had never placed such faith in the liar and coward of a man. 

Steve’s eventual relationship with Tony, Pepper had seen as a godsend. She and Tony had just broken up at her request, when Steve had stepped in, keeping Tony steady as the two slowly learnt not to dance around each other.

Pepper had always known that there had been a spark between them and when she realised she couldn’t deal with Iron Man anymore and had call everything off, she had been grateful for the relationship that had grown in her stead. 

It had made her feel less guilty when she had distanced herself from Tony, telling the genius that they needed to go back to being business associated and nothing more. She only wished she had left Tony in better hands then those of Steve Rogers.

In the end, Pepper realised how selfish it had been of her, denying Tony the return of their friendship after their relationship had ended. She had never intended to hurt him but that was exactly what she had done. And what Steve had done only a year later, when the Accords had been proposed. 

Tony had very few people he could calm were true friends and losing any one of them would have hurt him deeply. 

Pepper knew her guilt over the loss of friendship, of not being there to support Tony when the rest of the Avengers had turned on him, of not being there to tell him that yes, the Accords are a good thing, would haunt her for the rest of her life. 

She only hoped that Steve Rogers would be living with his own guilt. 

Focusing, Pepper looked down at the headstone.

Despite Tony’s ashes having already been dealt with, the headstone had been placed here as a memorial, besides the graves of his parents in the Stark family plot.

It was a simple headstone in black marble. 

‘Anthony Edward Stark’ had been carefully carved into the stone with his date of birth and date of death. 

There were no inscriptions, no pictures, nothing to show Tony’s long list of achievements. 

A speck of yellow paint drew her eyes to the edge of the stone. 

Unsurprisingly, there were still some media outlets who were publishing horrible things about Tony, taking the opportunity now that he was dead to say what they wanted about him, that he had deliberately destroyed the Avengers, that he had wanted to ruin the reputation of the other heroes (Despite the fact that Steve and his gang had managed to successfully do that themselves) and that he had been working alongside Ross the whole time. Pepper had put her foot down and a fresh wave of lawsuits and gag orders were currently being run through SI’s legal department but that still hadn’t stopped some people from trying to attack this last piece of Tony in their misguided ‘revenge’  
Only a week before, someone had spray-painted the word ‘Murderer’ across Tony’s headstone. A few days later, a group of kids had been arrested after they were seen trying to kick the headstone over, causing a small amount of damage. 

Both times, Pepper had ordered the headstone to be repaired and had even paid for security cameras to be placed in the area to catch any more vengeance seekers.

She only wished that Tony could have the peace in death that he had been denied in life. 

Beside Tony’s simple headstone was the slightly more decorative headstone of Maria Stark, this one larger, in white marble and with a carved rose above the name. A reference to her as Tony’s mother and Howard’s wife was included below her name. 

On the other side was Howard Stark’s headstone. A huge slab of white stone, proclaiming the deceased man a visionary, a genius, a patriot and a hero. There was no mention of his wife or child. Howard Stark in death, had been as he was in life. Uncaring about anything but himself. Uncaring about the son he had never made time for.

But people did care about Tony. 

Pepper cared about him. Bruce and Rhodey did as well. Even Vision wanted justice to be served. And if that meant Pepper was going to have to go to Wakanda and drag the former Captain America back by the scruff of his neck, to throw him into the witness box to make him testify against Ross so Tony could have justice, then she would do it. 

Turning away from the black headstone before her, Pepper slowly made her way out of the cemetery to the car where Happy waited for her. There was a private jet on an airstrip nearby awaiting her order to take her to Wakanda where King T’Challa was already expecting her. 

She had a mission to complete. And god help anyone who tried to stop her.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I was trying to write the next piece for this series from Sam's point of view in Wakanda, having the 'rouge' Avengers finally find out what happened in Siberia and learning about their pardon and Steve finally reading the re-written Accords...
> 
> But you don't say no to Pepper Potts. 
> 
> (Also, Tony's gunman now has a name. I am sure everyone can guess why I called him that)


End file.
